Many industrial product and byproduct streams include metal-containing compounds. Common metal compounds produced by industrial processes are ligated-metal compounds, such as metal halides, metal cyanides, etc. For example, refinement of titaniferous ores results in an annual production of several million tons of iron chlorides as byproduct.
Historically, many such by-products, including by-product ligated-metal compounds, are classified as industrial wastes and have been disposed of in land fills or by deep-well injection. However, disposal of industrial wastes by these methods has become an increasingly difficult problem because of diminishing availability of disposal space, strengthened governmental regulations, and a growing public awareness of the impact of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes on the environment. Release of industrial wastes, particularly ligated-metal compounds, to the environment can contaminate air and water supplies, thereby diminishing the quality of life in affected populations. Furthermore, discharge to the environment of some hazardous wastes, such as byproduct ligated-metal compounds, constitutes a loss of potentially valuable chemical components of the wastes.
Therefore, a need exists to produce metal-containing compounds more efficiently and to overcome or minimize the above-mentioned problems associated with hazardous byproducts that include ligated-metal components.